


It Started in Summer

by abrodkin



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, Day 2: Summer Job, Ereri Week, Levi is a professional swimmer, M/M, Slow Dancing, Some pining, fine booty appreciation, pile on the cheese
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-02
Updated: 2015-06-02
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:38:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4062001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abrodkin/pseuds/abrodkin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Standing at a powerful five-foot-three, twenty-six years old and seasoned like a champ, Levi had been the object of Eren's affections for the past six years, ever since Eren had glimpsed Levi emerging from the lake clad only in tight swim jammers and goggles pushing sodden hair out of his eyes. Needless to say, it was a long summer of Eren stealing his bunkmate Reiner's multiple bodybuilding magazines and trying to distract himself from the cold and flickering stare of the counsellor from the next cabin over.</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>But here he was, six years later, twenty-one years old and still fully infatuated, staring at Levi's ass like a sex-depraved rabbit of sorts. Or like his own fifteen year old campers, who he had busted hiding porno magazines underneath their mattresses at least five times since the summer had started a mere three weeks ago.</em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>For Ereri Week 2015, Day 2: Summer Job.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Started in Summer

**Author's Note:**

> I got a little carried away lmao fuck...

Damn.

_Damn._

Was Eren really in the position to be lusting over his senior’s ass? No, not really.

But it was a nice one. And it was currently encased in a pair of tight khaki shorts, sitting just below well-defined hipbones, only _just_ covered by a muscle tank that gaped slightly at the elongated armholes, all of which surrounded the body of an Adonis and accentuated the sharp, angular features of the head of Eren’s unit.  

Levi was… interesting. He claimed to have no interest in children, but had been working at Camp Scout ever since Eren had first arrived at the age of fifteen. Levi had progressed from mere counsellor to head of his own unit within a year, leaving most long-time workers astonished and slightly jealous.

Standing at a powerful five-foot-three, twenty-six years old and seasoned like a champ, Levi had been the object of Eren’s affections for the past six years, ever since Eren had glimpsed Levi emerging from the lake clad only in tight swim jammers and goggles pushing sodden hair out of his eyes. Needless to say, it was a long summer of Eren stealing his bunkmate Reiner’s multiple bodybuilding magazines and trying to distract himself from the cold and flickering stare of the counsellor from the next cabin over.

But here he was, six years later, twenty-one years old and still fully infatuated, staring at Levi’s ass like a sex-depraved rabbit of sorts. Or like his own fifteen year old campers, who he had busted hiding porno magazines underneath their mattresses at least five times since the summer had started a mere three weeks ago. 

“Eren!”

A hand slapped the back of his head, causing him to shake his head in confusion. He looked beside him to see his sister and fellow counsellor Mikasa sitting with a grimace.

“ _What?_ ” he hissed.

“ _Get your head out of his ass,_ ” she whispered back. “ _We. Are. At. A. Staff. Meeting._ ” Each word was said through clenched teeth and accompanied by a sharp poke into Eren’s ribs.

He swatted at Mikasa’s arm. “ _Stop, stop, what the fu—_ ”

“Is there an issue here?”

Slowly, Eren and Mikasa stopped and looked upwards, a shadow having fallen over them from above. Eren looked at Levi’s crossed arms and annoyed expression, and suddenly felt the need to gulp audibly. He didn’t, only because Levi looked as if he was two seconds away from personally dragging Eren out of the staff room by the nape of his neck and throwing him onto the damp dirt path outside.

He settled for scrambling to sit up straight and debating whether he should salute or not, lest it be taken in bad taste. “No,” he said quietly. “Sorry, Levi.”

“Don’t apologize to me, Eren. Mikasa. Apologize to everyone else, because now that’s an extra five minutes you’ve added to this meeting, and I doubt any of you want to stay and listen to me speak shit for longer than you have to.” His tone was firm. “Any objections?”

The air, silent before, was now punctuated by hushed voices and strewn with faces glaring at Eren. It was a common fact that Levi’s meetings weren’t desirable, and that an extra five minutes would be torture to most, who would rather go back and clean their cabin’s toilets than listen to him speak for longer than necessary.

The last person who had tried to object to Levi’s meeting extensions didn’t return as a counsellor the next summer.

“No? Good.” Levi paused for a moment to whack Eren lightly on the back of the head before walking back to his position at the front of the room. “Excusing Eren’s—” he paused to cough slightly “— _unfortunate_ interruption, let’s talk about the unit semi-formal. After that, if we have time, we’ll talk about your days off. But don’t count on it.”

Nearly everyone groaned.

 

* * *

 

Eren was not five steps out the door of the meeting when Jean, another counsellor, punched his arm. Eren tried to shove him back, but Jean was quick to step aside and make Eren stumble.

“You’re so fucking lucky that he has a soft spot for you,” Jean grinned once Eren had re-gained his footing. “Honestly, anyone else and he would’ve had a _fit._ ”

Eren bumped his shoulder into Jean’s. “Yeah, well, at least it wasn’t like the last time _you_ interrupted. Shit, did you ever get the smell of garlic out of your clothes, or is that just how you smell naturally?”

Jean gritted his teeth. “Eren, I swear to god—”

Eren laughed and set off into a sprint, Jean quick to follow on his heels. Eren managed to run for only a few seconds before a firm hand gripped his bicep and pulled him backwards. He fell to the ground, straight on his ass, with a _thud._

“We don’t pay you to fuck around like a kid, Eren,” a deep voice said quietly above him. He looked up to see Levi standing above him, casting a shadow across the ground. “That’s the second time today.” With a sigh, Levi offered his hand to Eren.

Eren took it and was hauled upwards. “I’m sorry. Really. You know how Jean is—you were his counsellor the first year you s—”

“I know how Kirstein is, but that’s not an excuse for you. You know that, Eren,” Levi said, looking to Eren with his hands in his pockets. “You seem to forget that I’ve know you, along with him, for six years. Plus, I’ve basically been your boss for the past three. So I know it’s not just any shit that makes you space off like that in a meeting, especially if it gets your sister involved. You know better than that.”

Eren looked to the ground and dusted some dirt from his pants. “I know. I didn’t mean to make Mikasa worry—I mean, she does it anyway, but obviously you know that I avoid it as much as possible.” He paused to sigh. “And you also know that I really try to be professional during meetings. So today was a slip up; I was distracted, and I apologize.”

“It’s not the worst thing in the world, kid,” Levi said. He tapped Eren’s arm. “Really, I know everyone but you hates my meetings, which is understandable. I’m not blaming you for spacing out. I’m just telling you to not do it again.”

Eren nodded. “I know.”

“I’m also telling you that as your superior, as well as someone who’s watched you grow up, you can come to me if something’s bothering you. I’m not _that_ scary.”

Eren laughed underneath his breath. “I’m probably the only one who believes that.”

“And I appreciate that. Seriously, even if it’s during the off-season, it wouldn’t bother me too much if you needed advice or anything. I surprisingly don’t find you that annoying.”

“Gee, _that’s_ reassuring.”

Levi raised his hands. “Hey, don’t make me change my opinion. I could easily have you clean the communal showers along with Kirstein for the next week instead of the custodians. No extra pay, either.”

Eren tilted his head upward and groaned, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Ah, don’t make me do that!” He looked back down and into Levi’s eyes. “Please?” he pouted.

Levi smirked. “Cute,” he said. “Here, I’ll walk you back to your cabin.”

“Shit, what a gentleman you are.”

Eren tried to keep the flush from his cheeks as they walked back to the cabin.

They had a nice relationship. A stable one, much more like a friendship rather than a mentor-student relationship as they’d had in Eren’s earlier years of going to, and later working at the camp. It wasn’t as if they went out of their way to talk to each other during the off-season—though Eren would have enjoyed that immensely—but they would wish each other a happy birthday and whatnot, sometimes commenting on a status made on Facebook or a shared link. It was an easy relationship, a comfortable one, and Eren didn’t want to ruin what little seeds had been planted by suddenly bursting out with his affections.

That wasn’t to say that nearly everyone but Levi was aware of Eren’s feelings, but he appreciated that they mostly kept quiet about it.

They walked in silence for a short while before Levi suddenly stopped in his tracks, several meters away from the cabins. “You always come to the meetings,” he said, eyebrows furrowed.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t have to, you know. Get one of the others in your cabin to come sometimes, give yourself a break.”

Eren shot Levi a small smile. “Yeah, but I know they wouldn’t be as interested. Maybe Armin would listen as well as I do, but he wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about it.” He stopped to scratch the back of his head. “Besides, I _like_ your meetings. It’s not like it’s a form of torture to me. Plus—” he leaned in slightly closer and lowered his voice “—it’s nice to get away from my campers sometimes. I don’t know if I acted the same way when I was their age, but if I did, I don’t know how anyone was able to deal with me.”

To Eren’s surprise, when he pulled away, Levi broke into a wide, genuine smile, threw his head back, and laughed.

Eren stared at him for a few moments before he felt a flutter in his chest, starting small but growing larger by the second. He smiled and tried to calm down his reaction to the sight before him.

Levi was never one to laugh or smile much. If he did, it was small; in fact, Eren had never seen Levi smile in the way he was currently, or laugh loudly and without hesitation. To Eren, Levi was lovely whenever, but when he smiled… he was gorgeous.

Levi calmed down after a short while and wiped his eyes. “Sorry,” he mumbled, trying to get his smile to recede.

“It wasn’t even that funny,” Eren replied. Still, he couldn’t help it when a grin snuck its way onto his face.

“I think we established years ago that I have a shit sense of humour, Eren.” 

“Well, duh, of co—HEY!”

Levi muffled another laugh in his hand. “Ah, fuck… You’ve certainly bloomed, haven’t you?”

“Mm?”

Levi lowered his hand from his face and turned towards Eren with a small grin. “I just remember you being really bratty when I first got here. Not that any fifteen year old boy isn’t bratty, but you in particular were quite headstrong and all that. You’ve grown up a lot; it’s nice to see, actually.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me,” Eren groaned, and threw his head backwards, closing his eyes while letting out a hard stream of air from his mouth. He focused his gaze on Levi, only slightly tilting his head to the side without righting it upwards. “And… thank you. It’s nice to know that someone thinks of me that way, you know?”

Levi didn’t reply; instead, he nodded and started to walk towards the cabins again, beckoning Eren to follow with a short wave of his hands. Eren followed; somehow, his heart had sped up to the point where he could hear it clearly in his ears—not that it hadn’t been fast before, but for some reason, it was hammering harder than it ever had.

They stopped a few moments later in front of the cabins, and Eren couldn’t help the pout that sprung onto his face. “I don’t wanna go back…” he whined.

Levi smirked. “You shouldn’t be telling me this, you know. I could report you to the higher-ups and have you fired.”

“You wouldn’t, though,” Eren countered.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t.” Levi was silent for a brief moment before he clasped a hand onto Eren’s shoulder. “I’ll see you later,” he said quietly.

Eren gulped; he hoped it hadn’t been too obvious. “Yeah,” he replied with hesitation. “We, um… We have a meeting for the semi-formal tomorrow, right?”

“Mm.”

Eren gave Levi a small smile. “I’ll see you there, then.”

Levi patted his hand on Eren’s shoulder before he withdrew it, letting it drop and hit his side. “See you then.”

“Right.”

Levi raised his hand in a waving gesture as he walked away towards the unit-head cabins. Eren watched him for a short while before he sighed and made his way up the porch stairs of his own cabin, making sure not to grab any of the towels hanging on the railing and throw them down in frustration.

To Eren, Levi was perfect in nearly every sense of the word. So it would make sense that he would feel somewhat deflated as he watched Levi walk away. The counsellors and unit-heads only really got to speak during meetings and occasionally at dinner; it was extremely rare that Eren would be able to speak with Levi in an extended way as they just had, and so even the smallest interactions with Levi made Eren’s heart flutter in his chest.

He was nearly tackled when he stepped into the cabin doorway.

“Erennn!!!”

“Ow, _ow,_ get off—”

One of his campers made a kissy face and promptly kicked him in the crotch, other campers kicking his legs and grabbing at his arms. “Do you want his _dick—_ ”

“Guys, stop it!” He attempted to swat them off to no avail. “ _Stop!_ ”

“Eren—”

“Are you gonna play with his _nuts,_ Eren—”

He managed to fling the campers clinging to his arms to the floor. “Let go!” he shouted, attempting to muffle his smile.

“HEY!”

The campers fell silent. They turned their heads slowly to the hallway leading towards the bathroom.

“Do you want Eren to break his leg?” Armin asked with a slightly venomous tone. “He won’t be able to go to semi-formal if he does. And if he doesn’t go to semi, then we’ll be one chaperone short for our cabin and one organizer down with no one to replace him. Do you know what that means?”

The campers nodded and slowly dislodged themselves from around Eren’s legs and torso.

Armin smiled. “Good,” he said sweetly. “Hi, Eren.”

“…Hi.” He joined Armin in the hallway.

Armin turned his head towards the campers and cleared his throat, a fist in front of his mouth as he did so. “Guys.” He paused and crossed his arms, his foot tapping a fast and steady rhythm on the wood-panelled floor. “Get to bed.”

The campers didn’t move; it was like they had been frozen on the spot.

Armin waited a few beats. “… _NOW!_ ” he shouted.

The campers scattered.

Armin tilted his brow towards Eren before dragging him to the bedroom they shared with the third counsellor of the cabin, Connie, who was fast asleep and snoring despite the noise from outside the room.

“You’re gonna tell me what that was about?” Armin asked once he had seated both him and Eren on Eren’s bed on the bottom bunk.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Armin sighed. “With Levi.”

Eren was silent.

Connie snorted and rolled over.

“…You know he broke up with his girlfriend a while ago, right?” Armin said quietly.

Eren rolled his eyes. “ _Yes,_ I’m not dumb. I actually keep up with people on Facebook, you know.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

“I don’t know, Armin—maybe the fact that he’s practically my _boss?_ Not to mention he lives really fucking far away from us? Or the fact that I’m too chickenshit to even consider it?” Eren groaned and put his face in his hands. “I’m so fucked, aren’t I?”

“Language. Think of the children.”

Still hiding his face in his hands, Eren cracked a grin. “Like you’re one to talk,” he mumbled.

“Yeah, well.”

Eren groaned again and fell backwards onto the bed. “He’s just so… so…”

“Short?”

Eren swatted at Armin’s arm. “No, no, shut up. You’re only like two inches taller than him, shut the fuck up. No, he’s like… _stunning._ You know? You ever felt like that?”

“Probably.”

“Agh, jeez!” Eren rolled over so that his face was buried in the comforter. “I’m going to do it eventually,” he mumbled into the bed.

“Yeah? When?”

“I dunno.”

“When he leaves the camp in the next few years? Or when _you_ leave the camp?”

“Stooooop…”

“Because it’s gonna happen sooner or later, Eren. You really need to know that and get it in your head before it’s too late and he fucks off to a normal summer job,” Armin said. He grabbed Eren’s arm and shook it. “Let me tell you a rumour.”

Eren sighed and turned his head towards Armin’s smirking face. “If it’s another one about me being a fucking murderer or something, I’m not letting you use the shower for the next few days,” he grumbled.

“No, you’ve heard enough of those.” Armin leaned in a little closer. “Hanji told me that Levi might be moving soon,” he whispered.

“Mm? Where?”

On the other side of the room, Connie was kicking the comforters around himself, flailing his arms and snorting even louder.

“Shiganshina.”

“ _What?_ ”

Connie bumped his head lightly on the wall and fell into his pillow.

Armin nodded. “You know his day job?”

Eren scrunched up his face. “Kind… of? He swims, I think.”

“Competitively. Hanji said his coach might be relocating or something. They also hinted at something else, but I don’t really know what it meant.”

“What?”

“That he was on the ‘hunt’ for something. Emphasis on ‘hunt.’ It could mean an Olympic medal or something like that, I don’t know, but it was definitely a hint towards _something._ ”

Eren made an annoyed sound in his throat before he rolled over onto his back and slowly started to lift himself into an upright position. “That’s fucking weird,” he said, his words slightly mumbled.

“Yeah, but Hanji is the epitome of ‘fucking weird,’ remember?” Armin leaned back on his palms. “I can try and drag more stuff out of them if you want, but knowing them, it’ll be some more vague shit again. Although,” he said, a small grin slowly appearing on his face, “I do have an idea as to what their first hint is. Nothing concrete—really, I’m only guessing here—but still, an idea.”

“Well, let me know when your smart ass figures something out. I’ll be here,” Eren yawned, and swivelled his body to the side before collapsing back onto the bed, head nearly buried in the pillow.

Armin flicked Eren’s head. “Go brush your teeth. God, like, you could’ve been eating Levi’s face before you got here, for all I know.”

Eren slapped his hand behind him, managing to swipe Armin’s arm. “Gimme a minute,” he slurred slightly, sleep threatening to take over his form.

Except after five minutes passed, Armin, who had gone out of the room to brush his own teeth, stormed back into the bedroom and whipped Eren’s toothbrush at his head.

 

* * *

 

“We’re gonna wrap up in a minute, but do any of you have anything to add in regards to tomorrow?” Levi’s voice boomed from the front of the staff lounge. He turned his head to see Eren waving his hand in the air. “Eren?” 

Eren stood up. “Remember, guys, we’re there to chaperone, not to party. We can dance, yeah, but really we’re there to make sure no one does anything stupid. The staff that are legal are going into town for a bar-run the next night anyway, so just try to be professional for a day until then.”

“That all, Eren?”

“Yep.” He sat back down.

“Like Eren said, try not to act like an idiot in front of the campers. Tell that to the counsellors who didn’t help plan, too. If I catch anyone going overboard, it’ll be reported right away, all right? Anything else?” Levi said. The room stayed silent. “No? Then I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

The sound of scraping chair legs against the floor filled the air as the counsellors left the room. Eren stood and leaned against his chair, waiting for the rest of the counsellors to leave before he approached Levi, who was starting to re-arrange the chairs back into their proper places.

“Need any help?” Eren asked quietly.

“Yeah, just move that sofa on the right back in front of the TV. Then the loveseat near the back wall,” Levi replied, starting to move a recliner back into a corner. “I’ll do the rest.”

“You sure?” Eren gripped the side of the plush loveseat and started to push.

“I’m good, but thanks.” There was a crease in Levi’s brow as he arranged the recliner back into its proper place and started towards the second, larger sofa.

Eren pushed the loveseat back into place. “Something wrong?”

“Not really,” Levi grunted, taking hold of the sofa. He pushed it towards where Eren stood. “I mean, nothing out of the ordinary.”

“Worried about tomorrow?”

Levi shook his head. “I know how to get the kids under control if any shit goes wrong. Kids _including_ the counsellors.” He shot Eren a quick smirk. “Don’t think you’re exempt just because I like you.”

“Oh, you’ve went from not finding me that annoying to liking me? Just what have I done to deserve such a development?” Eren joked; on the inside, his heart was beating out a fast rhythm.

“Eh, you listen to me in meetings. I guess you’re not _that_ bad.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not so bad yourself, are you?”

“Nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Levi replied sarcastically, bumping his shoulder into Eren’s as he walked towards the centre of the room, where all the chairs were sitting.

“Seriously, though—” Eren grabbed the arm of the smaller sofa and started to move it. “I don’t know why more people don’t like you. You aren’t _that_ horrible.”

“Tell that to my ex,” Levi huffed, stacking the chairs on top of each other.

Eren blinked, focusing his gaze on the ground while he positioned the sofa to sit snug against the wall. “Yeah, I heard about that. How long were you guys together?”

“Two… years?” Levi stacked the last chair and then looked at the pile with a scrutinizing eye. “Give or take. Wished it would’ve been shorter, though.”

“She that bad?” Eren started to walk to the stack of chairs.

Levi grabbed hold of the side of the stack and carefully started to push. “No. Just not for me. I usually have a preference for men anyway—”

Eren had situated himself next to Levi and tried to grab onto the stack to help, but on Levi’s comment, he spluttered and accidentally shoved the stack forwards. The stack started to teeter ominously.

“Shit, shit—” Eren reached up his hands to steady the stack, brushing against Levi’s arm. “Oh, fuck, I’m so sorry.”

Levi waited for the stack to stop swaying before he started to grab chairs from the top of the pile and lower them to the floor to create a smaller stack. He sighed through his nose and briefly closed his eyes. “Don’t worry about it,” he said. “Grab the other stack, I want to put them near the doors.” He grabbed the larger of the two stacks and started to push them towards the door before Eren could reply.

Eren grabbed onto his own stack quickly and pushed it towards the door, getting there the moment Levi was finished with the other stack. Levi waited, his weight balanced on one foot and his hand resting on his waist while Eren arranged the chairs properly. After a short while, Eren stopped and patted the top of the stack once before he stood up and turned to Levi, a grin on his face. “That all, boss?” he asked jokingly.

“Mm. Thanks, Eren.” Levi pushed open the door and held it in place with his foot. “After you,” he said, gesturing his arm in a sweeping motion.

“Shame. Act like this normally and you could probably get anyone you want, huh,” Eren said playfully, glancing back towards Levi as he walked out the door.

“Too much effort,” Levi replied, stepping out the door. He let it swing shut behind him. “I would offer you my arm, but I think you’re fine without it. I’m not exactly the ‘prince’ type.”

“Yeah, well, not everyone has to be,” Eren said as they started to walk. “Obviously there’re people who appreciate a little rudeness.”

“Oh, fuck _off,_ ” Levi groaned, bumping his shoulder into Eren’s.

“See? I’m _swooning,_ absolutely _swooning,_ Levi!”

“Sarcastic much?”

Eren grinned cheekily. “Nope!” he replied, and linked his hands behind his back before stepping in front of Levi to face him. Eren started to walk backwards. “I’m sure there’s at least five other people in this camp who would like your attitude, too.”

Levi started to walk forwards as Eren walked backwards, making sure not to step on Eren’s toes. “I know you’re joking,” he said wearily.

“And why would you think that?” Eren swung around to walk beside Levi, hands still linked behind his back and legs moving in an almost comical march.

“Because you aren’t actually ‘ _swooning._ ’”

“ _Yeah,_ I am,” Eren countered, unlinking his hands to press his index fingers to the swell of his cheeks as he smiled. “See?”

“Just—just stop, ok?”

“Why?” Eren pestered.

Levi stopped hard in his tracks. He let out a harsh breath. “I don’t appreciate being… _jerked around_ like this,” he said slowly. “It’s fucking obvious that you’re just being a brat right now. I’m your _superior,_ Eren.”

“So?”

“ _So?_ ”

“So _what,_ I’m being bratty. I wouldn’t kid around like that, Levi. Promise,” Eren said, a hopeful expression on his face.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“You know, not everyone has my patience, Eren,” Levi said with a glower. “I really hope you aren’t being a shit just for the sake of it.”

“But I’m _not,_ ” Eren said. He let out a short puff of air through his nose, and then let out a short, quiet laugh. “You think _I’m_ being stubborn? Look at yourself.”

“Just—”

“I’m not a liar, Levi,” Eren said almost desperately. “I’m not,” he repeated quietly. He furrowed his eyebrows. “If you aren’t gonna take me seriously, then I’m leaving.”

“ _Jesus,_ Eren—”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Levi. Have a nice night.”

As Eren turned to leave, Levi shot out a hand to grip Eren’s forearm. “ _Eren._ ”

“Levi.”

“Do you blame me for not believing you?” Levi sighed. He loosened his grip a smidgen before tightening it again. “All the shit I’ve gone through in my life, of course I wouldn’t fucking believe you.”

“Why are you being so _fucking_ insistent on this?!” Eren exclaimed, wrenching his arm from Levi’s grasp. “I’m not a child, Levi. I know what I’m doing, and trust me when I say that I wouldn’t jerk you around like that. I _hate_ this. I’m leaving, so goodnight.”

“Eren, st—”

“ _Goodnight,_ Levi,” Eren repeated shakily. He stood rooted in place for a split second before he turned on his heel and made his way back towards his cabin, leaving Levi standing alone near a thicket of trees.

 

* * *

 

“Was he a dick, or were you a dick?” Armin asked softly. Eren had stormed into the cabin a few minutes prior and immediately buried his head under his pillow in order to scream nonsensically into the mattress. 

“Neither,” Eren said, his voice strained and muffled.

“A fight, then?”

Eren shifted his head underneath the pillow. “Go grill someone else, Armin…” he mumbled.

“Well, I won’t get any answers from anyone else besides you. And I never really talk to Levi casually, either, so it’s not like I can just go up to him randomly and ask what the hell happened.”

Eren threw the pillow onto the floor and rolled over onto his back. He shot Armin a harsh glare. “No, don’t do that. You’re not my mom, Armin.”

“Yeah, I think that role goes to Mikasa,” Armin sighed. He bounced on the mattress a few times before settling down. “But I _am_ your friend. And I don’t like seeing you pissed off; no one does. It sounds stupid, and you’ve probably heard it a billion times before, but I just want to help.”

Eren blinked a few times, his eyelids heavy. “I’m _exhausted._ I don’t know what to do. I basically told him that I liked him, and he thought it was a joke. A joke, Armin! That I was jerking him around!” Eren paused to grit his teeth. “And I _told_ him I wouldn’t do that, and he still thought I was being stupid or some shit. Like I would do that to him— _me,_ probably the _only one_ who likes every single thing about him. I can’t deal with this, not now.”

Armin cringed. “It was that bad?”

“Yup. He was like, ‘It’s fucking obvious that you’re lying, stop being a shit, you can’t blame me for not believing you,’” Eren said in a crude interpretation of Levi’s voice. “And I can’t even call him an asshole, you know? Because he can be one, but I don’t think anything he was saying wasn’t justified.” He paused and took a shaky breath in. “I like him _so much,_ Armin.”

“…I think that much is obvious.”

“Fuck off if you aren’t gonna be serious. I don’t need that shit, I really don’t.”

“Ok, Eren, you need to stop,” Armin chastised firmly. “We’re gonna figure this out. Don’t be a dick to me just because you’re in a pissy mood; you of all people should know not to do that. I’m your friend, not your punching bag.”

Eren sighed deeply. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly, “and I really need your help.”

“I know. And—”

“Of course you know. You’re smart as hell.”

Armin swatted Eren’s leg. “Shush. Don’t interrupt. Are we in grade school? No? No.” He leaned his head back on the wall, settling with a light _thud._ “As I was saying—we’re gonna figure this out, easily or not, ok? First step is figuring out why he might be hesitant.”

Eren hauled himself up and leaned his head against the wall in a similar fashion to Armin. “He said he’s been through… things. We talked about his ex for a few minutes before all of the shit happened. Nothing too extensive, just that he wished it would have been over sooner, though he didn’t necessarily specify why. Said he usually preferred dating men, too.”

“But that doesn’t explain what he’s been through?” Armin said sceptically.

“Yeah, he didn’t go into that.” Armin tried to interject, but Eren cut him off. “—And that’s fine! He doesn’t have the obligation to tell me everything about him. It would make everything easier, though. Besides,” Eren sighed, “I don’t think he would ever open up to me, especially now that he thinks I’m the biggest bullshitter on the planet.”

“Oh, I doubt that,” Armin replied. “If anything, that title goes to Jean. But getting back to the point, you don’t need to know everything about him just yet, maybe not ever. Right now you’re trying to get him to see the truth of it all and possibly get him as a boyfriend, right?”

“Mm.”

“So don’t worry about finding out his past. Right now, it’s not important. What _you_ need to focus on is getting him to see you for who you really are. And I’m sure he already sees what a fucking bright person you are, but you need to show him more, make him understand more about you. And that way, maybe he’ll say why he’s hesitant.”

Eren sighed. “Will that work, though?”

“Well,” Armin said, kicking Eren’s calf with his foot, “from what I see, you guys are chummy as hell. And especially this summer—I haven’t ever seen anyone look at you like the way he does. It’s weird, almost.”

Eren looked towards Armin and furrowed his eyebrows. “…How does he look at me?” he asked.

“Like… you have every inch of his attention, even when you’re not talking or anything,” Armin said. “You know, he didn’t even look at his ex like that when she came to visit last year.”

“What, you saw them?” Eren had spent the whole weekend busying himself with additional work in order to avoid even looking at Levi’s ex; he claimed it was because he was bored, but in reality, it just hurt too much.

“Yeah. I dunno, they were probably on the outs by then, but still—aren’t you supposed to look at the person you’re dating like they’re your own personal sun and stars or whatever?”

“Oh, shut _up,_ ” Eren groaned, bumping his shoulder into Armin’s side.

“From what I can see, he looks at you like that,” Armin said quietly.

“What?”

“And you look at him like that, too,” Armin continued. “You always have. It’s frustrating, especially this year. So you need to stop moping and get a plan together. If you want my opinion, I think you’re both being stubborn, and you need to work that out. Ok?”

Eren hesitated for a moment, closing his eyes for an extended amount of time. He opened them after a while and turned his head towards Armin, the back of it still touching the wall. “Ok.”

“Good. So, here’s what you should do…”

When Armin finished his explanation, there was a brief silence preceding a loud _bump_ and then a muffled “ _Fuck!_ ” Slowly, Armin turned his head to the side to see the campers of the cabin staring into the room, some of them with fingers gripping the doorframe, others cowering in the back.

“Eren,” Armin said slowly.

“Yes?”

“Don’t tell Levi what I’m about to do. I don’t want to get fired.”

“Ok?”

With that, Armin stood up from the bed and made his way over to the group, stopping with the tip of his foot just barely touching the shaking, splayed fingers of one of the campers.

“What,” he said, “in the _hell_ do you guys think you’re doing.”

The campers were silent. Eren observed quietly.

Armin sighed. “I’ll give you ‘til the count of three.” The campers stayed silent. “One. Two—”

The campers scattered.

Armin turned back to Eren with a small smirk on his face. “You gonna follow what I told you to do?”

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

 

* * *

 

Except that when the actual night came, all of Armin’s words flew out of Eren’s head within two beats of looking at Levi. 

The plan was supposed to be simple: go up to Levi; converse casually; leave; come back; repeat until the end of the night, then; tag behind to talk, and; hope and pray that he would be able to see the truth of the situation.

But that obviously wasn’t going to work. Who the hell was Eren kidding? The plan was too calculated; something would obviously have to go wrong, which it had—though forgetting the entire plan was probably the worst-case scenario. But those happened quite often, to the point where Eren was basically used to winging it in a pinch.

Still, the moment he walked in the door, he looked at Levi and his brain promptly melted in his skull, plan vanishing in an instant in favour of looking at Levi standing alone near the speakers, his toe tapping the floor along to the beat of whatever song was playing. Levi seemed distracted, almost. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he would look every so often from the crowd of dancing teenagers to the windows, gazing out them with a slight look of melancholy on his face.

Eren gulped and clenched his hands into fists at his side. It would be horrible if he had been the one to make Levi look like that—in fact, it was the only possible explanation, which made Eren’s stomach lurch. He didn’t want to be the one who made Levi sad in any shape or form. He didn’t want to be the one to witness Levi sad in any way. Unhappy? Eren was used to it—Levi was always grumpy in any respect, though it was most often with a hint of fondness or concern. But sad? Eren wasn’t used to sad; Eren never wanted to be used to sad.

But instead of gathering up his courage like he should have done, Eren slunk towards a wall on the opposite side of the room, settling down next to Mikasa and her fellow counsellor Annie with a heavy sigh.

Mikasa glanced over to him. “The night _just_ started, Eren. I can’t even imagine anything that could’ve happened in the past five minutes to make you like this.”

“Yeah, well, it didn’t happen in the past five minutes, so shush,” Eren mumbled, leaning his head against the wood-panelled wall. “I’m going through my first heartache, cut me some slack.”

“What about that time in tenth grade when—”

“That’s completely unrelated and you know it,” Eren cut back. “No, but I’m an adult now.” Mikasa raised an eyebrow at him, and he unconsciously slumped his shoulders forward in an attempt to cage himself. “Well, technically. Anyway. This isn’t like that—aren’t you fucking glad that I’m actually being serious for once in my life?”

“No, don’t say that,” she replied, reaching over to touch his arm. “You know I was just having a go at you. But Armin told me a little bit about what happened.”

Eren groaned. “Why would he do that?”

“Because he’s your friend, and he’s concerned. So am I. You just… you barely see the guy outside of camp, right? He doesn’t live near us—or, at least he doesn’t right now. But that’s beside the point, Eren. It’s just that I don’t like seeing you mopey, or hurt, or heartbroken, or anything else. Christ, if he’s going to make you this sad then you should just forget it.”

He glared at her. “You really don’t get it, do you?”

“I have your best interests at heart,” Mikasa said earnestly. “Really. I don’t want to see you get hurt; after all of this shit, all you deserve is happiness, and that’s what I want to give you or help you get. Think it over.”

“ _You_ think it over,” he countered. “Fuck, I want to be happy, too. And if all I get out of this is a lesson, _fine._ At least I’ll have learned something and I’ll be happier in the long run.” Mikasa opened her mouth to speak, but Eren reached out and grasped her shoulder lightly in order to get her to wait. “I know you care about me. I _know._ You’re my sister, and I love you for it, but I have to be my own person sometimes. And I trust your judgement—really, I do—but sometimes it’s better for me to figure out things on my own. Look.” He pointed indiscreetly towards Levi. “I like him. A _lot._ You know that. If I can just be his friend, that’s fine—it’ll hurt, but it’ll be fine, and I’ll have learned a lesson. But please, just trust me, ok?”

From beside Mikasa, Annie stepped into sight and waved her hand. “If it counts, I think you should go for it,” she said. “Maybe dating a dick’ll make you happy. Maybe _Mikasa_ should date a dick.”

“Stop it,” Mikasa whined, nudging Annie to the side. “I know. I just… I want you to be secure, I guess. Wanted, and happy. And if _he’ll_ —” she gestured her chin towards Levi “—make you happy, I guess I just have to deal with it.” She paused, and then let out a small sigh. “I’m not fond of him,” she said, “and if he breaks your heart, tell me, because then I’ll be able to plan out when I kick his ass.”

“Roger,” Eren said, and saluted. “I don’t know; I only came over here because I saw him and chickened out. Armin and me, we had a _plan,_ a fucking foolproof _plan_ that I just forgot the moment I walked in here.”

“Use that brain of yours,” Annie said. She walked over to punch him on the shoulder. “Get that cock.”

“You’re horrible,” Eren said, pushing her back playfully.

“And what else is new?”

“Nothing, obviously. You’re horrible, Mikasa’s a mom, Levi’s a dick, Armin’s smart as shit, and I’m here, stubborn as hell for no fucking reason. I just—” He jumped up and down a few times and shook out his arms while Annie and Mikasa watched and laughed. “I need to get pumped up. Tell me how great I am.”

“You’re _lovely,_ ” Mikasa giggled. “Go.”

“Yeah?”

“ _Go._ ”

So he went.

 

* * *

 

Eren had watched Levi the entire night through the fog of dancing teenagers. Once or twice he tried to make his way over to Levi, only to stop when he saw Levi talking with another unit-head or counsellor. It was frustrating; already the night was dying down, and he hadn’t even tried to go through with what he was planning. 

As part of the planning committee, Eren had to stay behind to clean up, accompanied by the rest of the committee and Levi. The floors were sticky with soda and chip residue, and the soft lull of Top 40s played through the speakers. Occasionally, some of the counsellors would group together to sway and sing along with the music, only to be chastised by Levi for slacking off and then promptly getting back to their assigned jobs. Eventually Levi turned off the music altogether. Multiple times, Eren had to go outside and shoo off some straggling campers who had decided that the best place to make out was right in front of the dining hall, surrounded by counsellors.

About a half hour after the semi-formal had ended, the last of the planning committee had trickled out of the hall to go back to their own cabins. Levi, as unit-head, had to stay behind in order to lock up; Eren, as a person drowning in emotions and arguably the head of the planning committee, opted to stay behind to help Levi finish cleaning up.

Eren could immediately feel the tense air between them; it had only been a day since they had last spoken, which, in a way, was too little a time to think things through. But Eren was done with shying away from the situation.

He walked up to Levi and waited for Levi to stack the last of the chairs before he spoke. “Um,” he said.

Levi glanced at him. “Yes, Eren?”

“Do you—um. Doyouwanttodance,” Eren mumbled.

“What?”

“Fuck—” Eren took a deep breath and let it out slowly while wringing his fingers together. He looked down at his feet and shuffled them together. “Do you want to dance with me,” he repeated, still staring at the ground.

“…Dance?”

“Yes.”

“There’s no music,” Levi said plainly.

“Yes, I—god, Levi, can you just not be blunt for maybe two seconds?” Eren said, looking back up to Levi. “I’m asking you if you want to dance,” he said softly.

“I heard you the first time, Eren.” Levi let out a harsh breath and looked to the side. “Yeah,” he said unintelligibly.

“What?”

“Yeah, I’ll dance with you,” Levi said, closing his eyes. “Just—”

“Here,” Eren said, cutting him off. “I’ll put on music. I, uh… I brought a CD. Made a playlist and stuff. Sorry, I know that’s lame,” he said sheepishly.

“It’s not,” Levi replied. A small smile crept its way onto his face, not reaching his eyes. “Lead the way.”

Eren stood rooted in spot for a few seconds before walking over to the speaker system to insert the CD. After a couple of moments of fiddling around, soft music started to flow out of the speakers, soft piano and soft vocals mixed with lightly strummed guitar. Eren walked back towards Levi and held his hand out silently; Levi took it, and they walked to the middle of the floor.

Eren placed a hand on Levi’s waist, and another on his shoulder; in turn, Levi put one hand on Eren’s waist and the other on Eren’s shoulder, opposite to where Eren had placed his own hands. They both stared at the ground, shuffling awkwardly and making sure that they didn’t step on each other.

“Uh,” Eren said.

“Mm,” Levi replied.

Eren took a deep breath into his nose and mashed his lips together before he let out the breath and looked up. Levi followed suit, and they locked eyes. Eren tightened his grip on Levi’s shoulder before he spoke. “About yesterday,” he started.

“Yes.”

“I want to apologize if I made you uncomfortable,” Eren continued. “That wasn’t at all my intention, and I feel horrible if I made you feel that way.”

“Thank you,” Levi said quietly.

“I, um…” Eren looked downwards again and reaffirmed his grip on Levi. He started to sway both of them with a bit more power than he had before. “I really just want you to know that I’ve never lied to you. I never _will_ lie to you. That’s not right of me. But with me saying that…” He squeezed Levi’s waist softly and looked back up to meet Levi’s gaze. “I wasn’t lying to you yesterday. I need you to know that.”

“…Uh,” Levi mumbled.

The corner of Levi’s mouth, which had been pulled downwards, twitched. He opened and closed his palm a few times on Eren’s shoulder, and then licked his lips. Eren watched all of this, and mimicked some of Levi’s actions unknowingly.

“Levi?” Eren asked, his voice soft and laced with concern.

“What does that mean, then?” Levi said suddenly. He ripped his stare from the floor in order to lock eyes with Eren.

“It means that I _like_ you, Levi.”

The soft patter of drums evolved into a heavier beat.

“…Like me?” Levi’s words were quiet, drawn out.

“Yes. For a while.”

“In what way?”

“A non-friendly way,” Eren said. He moved his hand from Levi’s shoulder in order to touch Levi’s chin with a few fingers. Slowly, he ran his fingers from Levi’s chin to Levi’s jaw, then up Levi’s cheek and finally to his hairline. Eren pushed Levi’s bangs away from his face and tucked them behind his ear. “As in, a romantic way, I guess.”

Levi furrowed his eyebrows and clenched his jaw. “Why?”

“I don’t know. I just think you’re wonderful, and handsome, and an extremely kind-hearted person underneath everything.”

Levi, his head still in Eren’s grip, directed his gaze to the side and gulped. Then, before Eren could even register it, Levi had turned his head back to face Eren, put his hand on the back of Eren’s head, held it tight, and pressed their lips together.

There was nothing but that moment. The churning of stomachs, fingers gripping onto shirts and hair; the tingles shooting between their lips and spreading to their heads. It was neither soft nor harsh; the pressure of lips that tasted faintly of caramel was the perfect amount.

After a few breathtaking moments, Eren was the one to break their lips apart. He kissed Levi again for a brief but full second before he pulled away again and leaned their foreheads together. “I’m so glad you believed me,” he breathed.

And then Levi was pulling Eren down again to capture his lips, running his tongue along the seam of Eren’s mouth in order to gain access and deepening the kiss once Eren obliged. The pounding of Eren’s heart in his ears drowned out any music; his brain, usually going a mile a minute, had stopped to only focus on Levi, Levi’s touch, his scent, his lips, his fingers. 

Eren couldn’t tell how much time had passed the next time they broke apart. Levi moved his hand from the back of Eren’s head to the nape of Eren’s neck and lightly scratched, causing Eren to shudder. Eren’s eyes were practically glowing like jewels; faint puffs of air left Levi’s mouth as he tried to catch his breath.

“I remember when you first became a counsellor here,” Levi said breathlessly. “You were eighteen. An adult. That’s when I first noticed you in a different light. But I brushed it off, because I had known you for so long and I thought it would be inappropriate of me to even think about it. And I didn’t want to believe you yesterday, but I do now, and I really hope you—”

Eren put both of his hands on Levi’s cheeks and brought their lips together again. “I’m so happy,” he said between kisses. “I’m so— _glad_ —you’re amazing—and I like you so much—”

“—Fuck, _Eren_ —”

“And I want to see you outside of camp,” Eren said, breaking apart from Levi. He ran a thumb across the top of Levi’s cheek. “I want to talk to you more, _be_ with you more, know more about you. Trust me when I say I’ve liked you for years, since the moment I first saw you. And getting to know you—I think you’re _wonderful._ Darling. _Superb._ I like you so, so much.” He let out a breathy laugh.

Levi pulled Eren in for a hug and buried his face in the crook Eren’s neck. He took a deep breath in through his nose and then exhaled through his mouth. “I’m probably moving to Shiganshina,” he said, his voice muffled by Eren’s shirt.

Eren wrapped his arms around Levi’s back and neck, the palm of his hand resting on the back of Levi’s head. “I heard.”

“…This is also my last summer here.”

Eren started rubbing the tips of his fingers in circles on Levi’s scalp. “Oh,” he said, his voice small.

“My coach wants me to try for the Olympics. He said I’ve waited long enough, and that I’d get in easily. I just can’t work here anymore, though. I lose a lot of the summer season because of it.” He sighed into Eren’s shirt and nuzzled closer into Eren’s shoulder. “I do like it here. And I’m glad that this happened now. I don’t feel as guilty, knowing that I won’t be your superior after next month. It’ll be easier for us when I move. I know you go to school there.”

“Mm.”

“We’ll be fine.”

They started to sway along with the music again, clinging tightly to each other, neither willing to let go for even a second.

A while later, with no words being spoken, Levi pulled back and took Eren’s hand. He pulled Eren to the front of the dining hall, locked the door, and then took Eren to the secluded area of the camp where the unit-head cabins were located. He kissed Eren on the balcony, kissed Eren again in the doorway, and was smiling wildly when he dragged Eren into the cabin and onto the bed.

And months later, when Eren had settled into his day-to-day routine for school, he was interrupted while studying by a sharp series of knocks on his front door. And when he opened the door, he was greeted by Levi, who was holding a moving box and had a large grin on his face.

And they kissed in the doorway of Eren’s apartment, kissed in the front hall and in the bedroom, kissed on the bed with tangled limbs and did not let go of each other once.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to attempt humour and failed a little bit but that's fine!!!
> 
> I might try and do the rest of the Ereri Week prompts at some later date. I'm swamped with work right now, but I had a lot of fun writing this and trying to make the deadline (which I did!) This gave me an excuse to write a summer camp AU which I've been planning to do for over a year. It also gave me an excuse to write Levi with a swimmer's body (think Makoto Tachibana but like.... shorter and with an angrier face.)
> 
> I'm working on more stuff, and I'm graduating in about three weeks so I'll try and get more works up over the summer. I have a giant thing that I've been continuously working on for over a year, and a multi-chapter fic in the planning stages. I'm going to try and start the multi-chapter fic within the next month and a half, but if I don't just know that it'll happen soon enough.
> 
> As usual, you can find me on tumblr at [daddylazward](http://www.daddylazward.tumblr.com) (main) or [i-am-an-evil-witch](http://www.i-am-an-evil-witch.tumblr.com) (writing/whatever.)
> 
> #comethrough


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